Name Awesome

Shaul

#4,367 in 2025Boys' name

To ask, to borrow, through Saul

Shaul has been given to 730 babies in the U.S. since 1973. In 2025 it ranked #4,367 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 33 recorded.

Babies named Shaul, 2025

1 in 138,000

Shaul over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shaul: meaning, origin, and history

To ask, to borrow, through Saul

Hebrew

What Shaul means

Shaul belongs to the name family reached through Shaul → Saul → Saul → שָׁאוּל. Its meaning is “to ask, to borrow”.

Origin, language, and formation

Shaul is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Saul and שָׁאוּל.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Shaul is pronounced /ʃɑˈuːl/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 730 boys were recorded with the name Shaul between 1973 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 33 in 2021; its best national rank was #3,480 in 2021.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,254 in 2020 to #4,367 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,700 in 2015 to #4,367 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Shaul?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 138,000
24 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 71,200
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,367
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
95,747 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shaul sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 95,747 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shaul. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shauls were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shaul was born before 2011 — so the typical Shaul is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
32.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
70.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
730
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 32.5% of all recorded uses (237).

Is Shaul rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+44
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−113
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,333
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.50×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
72.7%
Peak was 2021 (33)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,480
2021

Spellings of Shaul

Shaul is not the most common spelling — Paul is, with 64.7% against Shaul's 0.03%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Shaul is used

Across 1910–2025, Shaul was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 42,355 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in 50,000).

23 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 33,333
  2. 2New Jersey1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Shaul has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Shaul around the world

Where Shaul ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2014–2023
    #4,992
    in 2023
  • Canada
    2023–2023
    #3,103
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1972–1972
    #479
    in 1972

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Shaul by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,367
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 113
Best rank ever
#3,480
2021
Peak year
2021
33 that year
First recorded
1973
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
730
Count in 2025
24

Names similar to Shaul

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ShadiShakaShayeShantShadeShaynShainShahidShayaShadowShaanShakirShahSharodShawShamirShakurShahinShaheemShaeShayaanShahanShakeemShamus

Sibling names for Shaul

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Shaul

Top names of 2021, Shaul's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2021Boys' names starting with S